Two Dead, Including Gunman, at Empire State Building Shooting

Earlier this morning, at about nine a.m., a yet-to-be-publicly-identified gunman fired shots into a crowd outside Manhattan’s Empire State Building, on 34th Street. Two people—one victim and the gunman, who was shot by police—are confirmed dead, according to The New York Times. A handful more were wounded. The paper also reports that “[t]wo law enforcement officials said investigators had concluded that the shooting had no connection to terrorism and that it appeared to stem from a domestic dispute. A third said it might have been sparked by a robbery or dispute in the street.”

UPDATE:At 11:20 a.m., New York City Michael Bloomberg gave a press conference praising the heroism of civilians and police officers, after which the city’s police commissioner Ray Kelly gave updates on the specifics of the shooting: The gunman, Jeffrey Johnson, 53, was “disgruntled former employee” of Hazan Imports at 10 West 33rd Street who shot and killed a former co-worker, an unidentified 41-year-old, using a .45 caliber handgun. A construction worker who saw the incident then alerted two police officers. When the officers approached Johnson, he went to fire at them before they, in turn, shot him dead. Nine other adults were wounded.